Volvo Adventure & UNEP Award for Young People's Eco-Action

Sun, 26 Sep 2010

UNEP and Volvo offer an international award to recognise and reward the activities of young people who are working to solve environmental problems in a practical way. The award is in its 10th year. From CEC member Wayne Talbot.

Photo: Volvo Adventure

Deadline: 31 January 2011

The Volvo Adventure run in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme is the international award that rewards practical action by young people from around the world. The projects need to be run and devised by young people and demonstrate the results of practical action.

As might be expected there is a strong biodiversity link when asking young people to identify a problem locally and then solve it – all of them showing remarkable imagination with practical actions that are an example to all of us. The projects have ranged from species based ones saving geckos to those managing entire habitats from countries as diverse as Turkey, India, Kenya, and Guatemala. The winners of the last final from Mexico illustrate the remarkable work being rewarded - the HUNAB team from the Yucatan coast of Mexico with a project that the International Jury described as:

“A truly sustainable entrepreneurial model has come to life with benefits for families, environment and local economy. Using only 900 litres of water, each child has taken responsibility for a small aquaculture pond, providing a sustainable harvest and a nursery for repopulating the local waterways once they have been cleaned. This ingenious project has allowed the children to earn extra money to support their ongoing schooling and helped to spread the aquaculture ponds to other students and improve their environment.”

For these and other students this is an opportunity to become part of an international network engaged in solving rather than talking about environmental problems. It is an adventure that offers a chance to make new friends all over the world and attract international recognition for their project. Individually, young people have benefited from participating as it supported job and college applications as many finalists have found. There are also opportunities to attend U.N. conferences and become international youth ambassadors.

If you know of any projects that deserve show casing on the international stage in front of UNEP all they have to do is register by visiting www.volvoadventure.org and enter teams from your school, youth or community for one of the two awards:

The Volvo Adventure is for students between 13 and 16 years old who are working in teams of 2-5 and actively involved in devising and managing an environmental project. Once registered simply download the guidelines, go to the publishing tool and enter the project details online before 31st January 2011.

Bob the Bunny Cartoon competition is for those under 13 years of age working in teams of three. Once registered simply download the entry form and away you go. The best cartoons featuring Bob will be published on the website and the team producing the best entries will be invited to Sweden.

Could you let your eco project co-ordinator have these details please? We know there are many great environmental projects happening that could be representing their country at the 10th anniversary of this prestigious international award in Sweden.